FG Not Afraid of Discos’ Threat to Resell Firms

• FG Not Afraid of Discos’ Threat to Resell Firms

The Federal Government is not frightened by the threats made by power distribution companies to quit the power sector and resell the firms at discounts.

Senior officials of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing stated that the power distributors knew the procedures to follow if truly they wished to quit the business, adding that the government would not beg them not to exit the sector.

On Tuesday, the power distributors threatened to quit the sector and expressed willingness to resell the firms at discounted rates.

Investors in the Discos, who came out to speak for their companies rather than sending the spokesperson for the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors, Sunday Oduntan, as demanded by the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, also called on the minister to urgently convene a meeting in order to address the challenges in the sector.

The successor companies of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria were officially privatised on November 1, 2013 and were sold to investors that year.

But since the sector was privatised, many power users have been complaining about poor electricity supply by the distribution firms, a development that recently led to heated exchanges between Fashola and the electricity distributors.

The investor in the Jos Electricity Distribution Company Plc, Tukur Modibbo, had said, “You asked me whether we are willing to quit the business. Now, please listen to me and put it down clearly that we bought our distribution company cash down for $82m in 2013; we are willing to take $72m in 24 hours and leave.”